Polycarbonate resins are well-known thermoplastic resins which have long been used in a variety of applications, including medical applications, due to their very high optical clarity, resistance to impact, high dimensional stability, and heat resistance. However, polycarbonate can sometimes have adverse effects in medical applications where they are in contact with blood, protein, and lipid solutions. For instance, when blood comes into contact with a conventional polycarbonate, there is a possibility of a reduction in the platelet count of the blood. When a solution containing protein contacts conventional polycarbonate, a layer of protein is sometimes deposited on the surface of the polymer. Previous attempts have used a hydrophilic polycarbonate surface coating, such as a layer of hydrophilic hemocompatible coatings. However, this requires the added step of coating following extruding and molding of the articles.
Relevant surface treatments are disclosed in EP 2559806(A1). A method is disclosed of improving hydrophilicity of a polycarbonate by a surface plasma treatment involving an He, Hs, Kr, Ne, N2, and Xe gas mixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,202, EP 0570208A2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,709,581, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20080081860, discloses Eugenol terminated fluids with different substituents in the backbone or pendant broadly.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,426,532 discloses the use of sulfonation techniques to introduce hydrophilic functionality on the molecules. Different additives can also be added to increase the hydrophilicity, some additives become surface active only after conditioning under specific conditions, while some additives are miscible with polycarbonate. However, these reduce the glass transition which will affect the processing. Further, even if these additives are thermally stable and surface active, they may not be permanent due to the lack of chemical bonding between the polymer matrix and additive.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,426,532 discloses polycarbonate graft copolymers comprising polycarbonate in the backbone and pendant chains grafted to polycarbonate backbone. These pendant chains are derived from a radically polymerizable unsaturated monomer of vinylpyrorolidone, an acrylate, styrene, dialkyl siloxane and perfluorinated vinyl compound.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,888,447 discloses the preparation of polycarbonate-polysiloxane copolymeric compositions with poly (oxyalkyl) group as pendant and material made having improved hemocompatibility. However, this type of copolymer could have random distribution of the hydrophilic moiety.
There remains a need for a polycarbonate composition with improved hemocompatibility and hydrophilicity and better pigment dispersion in polycarbonate-polysiloxane copolymeric composition that exhibits improved hemocompatibility and hydrophilicity.